Su Xianyu, who had been in high spirits before going out, saying that she was going to rent a storefront, came back looking dejected.
Feng Lin's eyes darkened slightly. "Xiaoyu, you're back so soon. How did things go?"
"Alas, don't even mention it." Su Xianyu sighed. "The landlord had originally agreed to rent it to me for 20,000 yuan a month. But when I went to sign the contract with him today, he said he wanted to raise the price."
"Raising the price after making an agreement. He has no sense of contract."
"Yeah, but I really like the location of his store. It's near Yuanya Hospital. The environment is good and there's a decent flow of customers. I'll just have to go talk to him again when I have time."
Feng Lin nodded. "Okay, take a few days' rest and then go check again. Maybe the landlord will change his mind after some more thought."
"I hope so. Otherwise, I'll have to scout for a new location."
Of course, this was just talk. Su Xianyu knew that the landlord would "come to his senses"...
Two days later, she went back to the storefront she had taken a fancy to.
Sure enough, the landlord, who had been mean and cold before, greeted her very warmly.
"Little girl, you're here again. Do you still want to rent my store?"
"Yes, landlord. I can only offer 20,000 yuan a month as we discussed before. What do you think?"
The landlord thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement.
"Fine, fine. Seeing that you're young and it's not easy for you to start a business, it'll be 20,000 yuan a month then."
Su Xianyu, holding the freshly printed lease contract, grinned and happily went home.
When Feng Lin came back from the hospital in the evening, he saw more than a dozen dishes on the dining - room table.
"A Lin, you're back. Let's start dinner!"
Su Xianyu was coming out of the kitchen, holding a steaming hot pot of soup.
Feng Lin took the casserole from her hand and placed it on the table.
"Is there something good that happened today?"
Su Xianyu's eyes sparkled. She picked up a few pieces of paper from the table. "A Lin, look. What's this?"
Feng Lin took the contract and carefully read it through. The terms were indeed in order.
"You guessed right. After two days, the boss changed his mind. I didn't even have to haggle much when I went today, and I just signed the contract."
"Then congratulations, Boss Su."
"Come on, A Lin. Don't tease me. I've just rented the place. There's still a lot of work to do regarding the flower seedlings and hiring staff."
"Do you need me..."
"Don't worry. If there's something I can't handle, I'll ask for help."
Looking at her confident expression, a faint smile unconsciously appeared in Feng Lin's eyes.
Since she had initially chosen the store location, Su Xianyu had started to get busy during the day.
In order to quickly become a qualified boss, she was screening flower seedlings from various horticultural centers on one hand, and on the other hand, she started recruiting employees.
After visiting several flower bases, Su Xianyu finally chose Li's Horticultural Workshop.
Their flowers not only had a wide variety but also bloomed beautifully, and the prices were reasonable.
Su Xianyu selected some flower seedlings, ordering a few hundred plants of each kind, including some rare varieties.
As for the employees, she finally settled on a young man and a young woman. Jiang Lin, an art - academy student who was well - versed in flower knowledge, and Huang Xiaoshuang, a hard - working and obedient country girl.
"In our flower shop, the salary is a bit higher than in other stores. It's 8,000 yuan a month with five social insurances and one housing fund. So, I need you to clean up the store before opening and after closing every day."
"The store's business hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. If there's an urgent order, overtime pay will be calculated separately. You can communicate with me at any time if you have any ideas."
Seeing that neither of them had any objections, Su Xianyu nodded.
"Okay, our store will open tomorrow. Go back and get ready. Be here on time tomorrow morning."
When she got home in the evening, Su Xianyu invited Feng Lin to be the ribbon - cutting guest for the flower - shop opening.
"A Lin, do you have time tomorrow? The flower shop is opening. I'd like you to come and have a look."
"Of course." Although Feng Lin hadn't intervened openly, he had secretly sent people to keep an eye on her store.
He had already arranged his surgeries in advance to free up his schedule for tomorrow.
The next morning, the sky was a deep blue and cloudless.
Amid the jubilant sound of firecrackers, Su Xianyu and Feng Lin held the red silk ribbon and cut the ribbon for the signboard of "Lin Xian Flower Isle".
Su Xianyu's flower shop officially opened for business.
At first, everything went smoothly, and the store gradually gained some regular customers.
Unexpectedly, just a few days after Jiang Lin asked for leave due to family matters, Huang Xiaoshuang told her that something had gone wrong in the store.
"Xiaoshuang, what's going on?"
Hearing Xiaoshuang's urgent voice on the phone, Su Xianyu rushed to the store early in the morning.
"Boss, this batch of flowers was delivered last night. I checked them and there was nothing wrong before I left. But when I came this morning, I found that these flowers had withered."
Su Xianyu reached out and stroked the petals, carefully inspecting them. Sure enough, she found something amiss.
It wasn't a problem with Xiaoshuang's cultivation method. The problem was with the flowers themselves!
These were not the rare flower seedlings she had selected before. They were ordinary varieties dyed to look like the rare ones.
At first glance, there seemed to be nothing wrong with their appearance, but they were difficult to maintain later on. They were extremely prone to withering and would gradually fade.
Huang Xiaoshuang wasn't as knowledgeable about flowers as Jiang Lin, so she couldn't tell the difference.
Huang Xiaoshuang's voice started to tremble with sobs. "Boss, I really took good care of these flowers. I didn't slack off."
"Okay, Xiaoshuang. It's okay. I believe you."
Su Xianyu patted her on the shoulder. "You pick out these withered flower seedlings and put them together. Just sell the other varieties as normal."
"Okay, boss. I'll do it right away."
Watching Huang Xiaoshuang bustling around in the store, Su Xianyu's eyes turned cold.
Just because it was a newly - opened store, they thought they could take advantage of her.
Wasn't it better to cooperate in good faith? Why did they have to resort to such underhanded tactics?
The money that the horticultural - workshop boss had taken, he would have to give it back!
Ding - ling—
The sound of the doorbell at night was especially clear. Su Xianyu got up and went to the door.
"Hello, the store is already closed today... A Lin, why are you here?"
"It's so late and you're still not home. I was worried, so I came to check on you."
Su Xianyu's eyebrows drooped. She forced a smile. "There's a problem with the new batch of flowers from Li's Horticultural Workshop. I followed the normal cultivation methods strictly, but a lot of them withered."
"Maybe these rare varieties need special cultivation methods. I still need to learn more. I don't know if they can be saved."
Feng Lin squatted down and gently stroked the withered petals with his fingertips. Looking at the faint orange on his hand, he seemed to be deep in thought.
"It's a minor problem. These flower seedlings can be saved."
"Really? That's great! I didn't expect you to know how to grow flowers, A Lin."
Looking at Su Xianyu's almond - shaped eyes that regained their sparkle, he nodded. "Don't worry."
The next day, Feng Lin took Chen Shui and a group of bodyguards to Li's Horticultural Workshop.
"Is the boss here? I'm here to sell flower seedlings."
"Sell? We..."